Jar lid lifter



July 21, 1959 R. c. KRAEMER 2,895,630

JAR LID LIFTER Filed May 20, 1957 INVENTOR.

FudoZf' a j raemer' United States Patent JAR LID LIFTER Rudolf C. Kraemer, Lancaster, N.Y. Application May 20, 1957, SerialNo. 660,303 Claims. ((11. 215-46) This invention relates to a meansfor lifting off the lid of a jar or other container which has a flange at its upper end in engagement with aforesaid lid when the latter is in its closed position, said jar or container also having a reduced portion or neck formed just below said flange. It is this neck which is adapted to detachably receive the present invention, which is more particularly adapted to lift the crimped, metal lid from the top of a glass jar or container that is adapted to hold a foodstufi such as baby food.

The main object of the invention is to provide a detachable lid lifter for lifting the lid of a jar in such a manner as to be as convenient to use as an ordinary screw top lid, but is not only much less expensive to manufacture but permits of a tighter seal between the lid and its companion jar container than is afforded by a screw top lid. Another object of the invention is to provide a lid lifter which is detachably arranged-around the neck of a jar and which, after once being applied to said jar, remains with it as a substantially component part thereof so that every time the lid of the jar is to be opened, the lid lifter is right in position to enable the lifting to be effected without looking around for a separate lid prying up instrument. Still another object of the invention is to provide a lid lifter which may be constructed at such low cost as to be economically discarded with the jar when the latter has been completed emptied of its contents and is to be thrown away. Other collateral objects of the invention are described in the herein specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary front elevation of the upper end of a typical jar or container, showing one form of my invention applied to the neck thereo Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the neck of said jar, taken on line 2-2 Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary, front elevation similar to Fig. 1 but showing the lid lifted in operating position and with the lid lifted off from the jar.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary, vertical section through the lid of the jar and the lid lifter, taken on line 44 Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section through the jar, similar to Fig. 2, but showing a modified form of lid lifter.

This invention will, for convenience, be described exactly as it is illustrated, but it is to be understood that the breadth of the invention is to be measured solely by its inherent novelty and by the scope of the appended claims.

The purpose of the invention is to open or lift up the annular, sheet metal lid A from the glass jar B. The upper end of said jar is formed to provide an annular, laterally-projecting flange which, when the lid A is closed, is positioned in air-tight, sealing contact with the rubber ring 11 of said lid, said ring being tightly compressed against said flange 10 by the downwardly-crimped, annular flange 12 which is integrally formed on the periphery of the lid A.

2,895,630 Patented July 21, 1959 ice Below its flange '10 the jar A is formed to provide a reduced portion or neck 13, while that portion of the jar which is located below said neck 13 is of greater diameter than either its neck 13 or its flange 10, thereby forming an annular, horizontal shoulder 14 contiguous to the lower end of said neck 13.

Arranged tangentially upon'said shoulder 14, is what I will hereinafter refer to as a lever 15, which is integrally connected with a concentric, curvilinear tail piece 16 which partially encircles the neck of the jar. Adjacent the fulcrum 17 of said lever, the sheet metal of which the lever 15 and tail piece 16 is constructed is formed to provide a detaining prong 18 which is more than away from the extreme end 20 of the tail piece 16. Said tail piece (and also its integrally connected lever 15) is constructed of some such resilient material as stampedont, fairly high carbon sheet steel (suitably rust proofed) and this resilience of said tail piece enables its extreme end 20 to be resiliently sprung away from its detaining prong 18 a sulficient distance to enable the entire lid lifter C to be laterally pushed into its operative position on the neck 13 of the jar, i.e., into the position shown in the drawing. Nevertheless, the fact that the extreme end 20 of said-tail piece 16 is more than 180 away from the detailing prong 18 causes the neck 13 of the jar B to be sufiiciently partially encircled to ensure that said lid lifter C will not become accidentally disengaged from the neck 13 of the jar in normal use. On the other hand the fact that said lid lifter C can be snapped laterally into place ensures that it can be snapped'into place after the canning machinery has been employed to press the lid A into position; sterilize the contents of the jar; and to aflix the usual commercial labels to said ar.

To permit the outer end of the lever 15 to be manually pressed upwardly without undue impedance on the part of the tail piece 16, saidtail piece is suitably machined, stamped or otherwise formed to provide a flattened valley or reduced thickness portion 21 adjacent or close to the detaining prong 18, the metal adjacent the latter constituting the fulcrum 17 of the lever 15. To prevent any interference between the lever 15 and the flange 10 of the jar, said lever is cut away (adjacent the detaining prong 18) to form a flange-clearance notch 22 which terminates at its outer end in a lifting shoulder 23, the latter being adapted to engage with the adjacent portion of the lower face of the flange 12 of the lid A and to thereby lift the latter upwardly out of engagement with the jar B.

Outwardly of this lifting shoulder 23, the lever 15 is internally cut away to provide a lid-clearance notch 24 so as to eliminate any possibility of interference between the lever 15 and the flange 12 of the lid A when the outer end of said lever is manually pushed upward about its fulcrum 17. Adjacent the outer end of said lid-clearance notch 24 the lever 15 is cut away on its inner side to form a flat, neck-clearance face 25 which prevents interference between the adjacent portion of said lever 15 with the neck 13 of the jar as the lid lifter C is being snapped horizontally into operative position on the neck 13 of the jar. This ensures, in other words, that the distance between said neck-clearance face 25 and the extreme end 20 of the tail piece 16 of the lid lifter C will be at least equal to the distance between said extreme end 20 and the detaining prong 18 of said lid lifter C.

If the metal of which the lid lifter C is constructed is a relatively soft and non-resilient metal such as low \carbon steel, it is preferred that the lever 15 and, in some instances, the entire lid lifter be hardened by the use of cyanide or the like. And in all cases, where the lid lifter is made of an oxidizable metal, it is, of course, rendered permanently sanitary by employing anodizing, enamel- 3 ing or the like. constructed of plastic or the like. I

It should be noted that the location of the fulcrum 17 of the lever is sufliciently far away from its lifting shoulder 23 to enable the lldAlO be lifted upwardly (on .its one side) completely clear of the flange 100i the jar. This result .is obtained because the lever 15 is disposed tangentially relatively to said jar flange 10. This result could not have been obtained by a lever which was located below the lid A and was positioned radially relative to the jar flange 10. I Fig. 5.This figure illustrates a modification of the invention in which the reduced thickness portion 21 of Figs. 1-4 is eliminated and its function taken care of by materially reducing the width of the modified tail piece 16a. This decreases the resilient resistance to both lateral (horizontal) flexure (when snapping the lid lifter Cg onto the jar) and also upward (vertical) flexure (when the lever 15a is being manually pressure upwardly at its outer end). It should be noted that this reduction in width of said tail piece 16:: is not carried clockwise clear to the fulcrum 17a as otherwise the metal would be excessively stressed at a point just rearwardly of said fulcrum 17a. In other words, the metal is left fairly wide at the point 2.6 which is situated between the narrow tail piece 16a and the fulcrum 17a.

I claim:

1. A jar lid lifter adapted to lift the lid from the top flange of a jar which has a neck located below said flange, comprising: a prying lever arranged tangentially to said neck; and means partially encircling said neck and arranged to hold said lever radially inward in operative position, with a reduced thickness portion being arranged between said lever and said partial encircling means.

2. A jar lid lifter adapted to lift the lid from the top flange of a jar which has a neck located below said flange, comprising: a prying lever arranged tangentially to said neck, the inner end of said lever constituting its fulcrum; and means partially encircling said neck and arranged to hold said lever radially inward in operative position, with a reduced thickness portion being arranged between said fulcrum and the partial encircling means.

Alternatively; said lid lifter C may be 3. A jar lid lifter adapted to lift the lid from the top flange ofa jar which has a neck located below said flange, comprising: a prying lever arranged tangentially to said neck and having both a flange clearance notch and a lidclearance notch; and means partially encircling said neck and arranged to hold said lever radially inward in operative position.

4. A jar lid lifter adapted to lift the lid from the top flange of a jar which has a neck located below said flange, comprising: aprying lever arranged tangentially to said neck; means integral with said lever and partially encircling said neck and arranged to hold said lever radially inward in operative position and having a reduced thickness portion between said lever and said partial encircling means; a flange-clearance notch formed in said lever adjacent said reduced thickness portion; and a lidclearance notch formed in said lever adjacent said flangeclearance notch.

5. A jar lid lifter adapted to lift the lid from the top flange of a jar which has a neck located below said flange, comprising: a prying lever arranged tangentially to said neck; means partially encircling said neck and arranged to hold said lever radially inward in operative position and connected withsaid lever; means for holding the innerend of said lever a sufficient distance away. from the neck of said jar as to prevent interference between the inner end of said lever and the top flange of the jar when said lever is being actuated, said means constituting a flange-clearance notch; and a radially disposed lifting shoulder arranged on said lever contiguous to the outer end of said flange clearance notch, that portion of said lever which is located outwardly of said lifting shoulder being spaced a suflicient distance away from said neck of said jar as to prevent interference between this portion of the lever and the lid of the jar when the lever is being actuated.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,572,607 Foster et al. Oct. 23, 1951 2,757,815 Schmitz Aug. 7, 1956 

